Kikkerland Brand Spirit Book

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Kikkerland Design Building our Brand

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A Message from Jan

I began Kikkerland Design as an importer of fine, designed goods that would be refreshingly different from what others sold. We’ve evolved, but my driving principle remains the same.

We bring to market home, office, and gift items that are both functional and delightful – things that you don’t see every day, yet you can use every day – often just little things that add a smile to a moment of everyday life.

Our organization is intrinsically creative, and to this I attribute much of our success. Most of our sales are driven by whimsy – impulse purchases as shoppers browse in stores. Moving forward, in order for the company to remain successful, we need consumers to become familiar with the Kikkerland Design brand – our name and reputation, not just our products – so that they begin to seek our products deliberately, as well as impulsively.

This booklet is about embracing and presenting a consistent brand – a persona that reflects our organic Kikkerland spirit , is attractive to consumers, and reflects well on our business partners so they’ll want to be associated with our brand. Our message needs to be as much about our company as it has been about our products.

Please reference this booklet often as a foundation for the work you do for our company. I depend on your support of this program to create awareness and build the Kikkerland Design brand for years to come.

Jan van der Lande, founder

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Brands Begin From Within, yet Reflect What Outsiders Think A company’s brand is synonymous with its reputation – what consumers, buyers, distributors, and other onlookers think of when they hear our name, see our logo, or see our products – and the reality of how well we deliver on the expectations created by our reputation through our products or services.

Brand = name + reputation Reputation = promise + performance Brand Positioning = vision + blueprint

Brand positioning provides us with the means of managing our reputation. It is our vision – aspirational and reflective of the strengths of our company – and defines our strategic direction. Positioning is not a statement for the public, but should be used internally in our organization as a blueprint to steer the direction of our work.

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Our Brand Positioning

Our Brand Attributes

A formal statement of brand positioning comprises, aspirationally, what we do, to whom, why, and what makes us different. Below is our formal positioning statement, for internal use only. Think of it as the definition of our core purpose - your alter ego when representing Kikkerland Design.

Brand attributes are derived from our brand positioning. They represent distinguishing qualities that are most relevant to our audiences and also reflect how we would like Kikkerland Design to be perceived: discovery, intelligence, wit, utility, joy, ingenuity, humanity

Kikkerland Design is a manufacturer of novelty design products for the home, office, and everyday living. Consumers seeking interesting, unique items for themselves or as gifts look to Kikkerland Design for a combination of entertainment, utility, and value. Every Kikkerland Design product is thoughtprovoking and clever, engaging its owner with a sense of discovery upon opening and a moment of delight with each use.

Kikkerland Design is comprised of passionate individuals, organically organized around its common vision of ingenuity, responsibility, affordability, and fun. They travel the world in search of original product designs (and designers) for things that make life more enjoyable. With a revolving portfolio of over 900 products, Kikkerland Design is about bringing discovery, intelligence, wit, and joy to everyone, every day.

Whether answering the phone, fulfilling a sales order, designing a product, or writing instructions, everything we do should be in line with the brand positioning blueprint.

Discovery Intelligence Wit Utility Joy Ingenuity Humanity

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Our Target Audiences

All of our activities and output directly and indirectly affect our target audiences’ impressions. Keep our audiences and their interests in mind for everything you do!

Business Partners The distributors, buyers, and retailers who bring our products to market. They are focused on the sellability of our products and the ease of working with us.

Consumers The people who buy Kikkerland products. They are educated, gregarious, energetic, and delighted by discovery and sharing experiences with friends. They appreciate contemporary, minimalist, and retro design and enjoy shopping and browsing, almost as entertainment.

Designers Industrial and product designers who can develop products for Kikkerland and help keep our portfolio unique and fresh. They seek companies that reflect well upon their own design talent.

Tip When developing products or communications for Kikkerland, know which audiences are affected by your work, then think of specific individuals you know who embody the definitions.

Cater your work to address them. Don’t target the group, or your work will seem impersonal and corporate.

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Our Company Voice

“Voice” refers to the spirit we convey in our written or spoken communications.

Our positioning states that Kikkerland Design is a company of passionate individuals, and “humanity” is one of our attributes.

As such, our voice should be conversational. It should reflect warmth, respect, and appreciation of our audiences. It should be intelligent, friendly, and direct, not “flip.”

Where appropriate, content should be story-telling and personal. For example, products from designers could contain a brief story about why or how he/she came to develop that piece.

Always refer to the company with the full name – Kikkerland Design. It uplifts the brand and reinforces the company’s design foundations. The exception to this is our logo, which is a graphic element that is used as a brandmark and excludes the word “Design” for clarity and instant recognition.

Tip The wit and humor behind Kikkerland Design is evident in its products and therefore, for simplicity’s sake, does not need to be part of the writing style.

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Expressing Our Brand

Our brand is expressed by every point of contact our audiences have with our company. That could be products, packaging, inserts, website, store displays, and on the business side, trade show booths, order processing, even shipping boxes.

These points of contact should be managed to ensure the right message - the Kikkerland Design Brand Attributes - are always communicated on some level. As you go through your daily activities, try to integrate these sentiments.

Our brand attributes, as they relate to Kikkerland Design, are defined as follows:

Utility

unctional, not wasteful; frequently F useful or serving a purpose

Discovery

Joy

The excitement of newness or unexpectedness

Delight and happiness

Intelligence

Ingenuity

Thought-provoking, not obvious; having depth and longevity for repeat interest

Wit

Cleverness, awakening connections between amusement and pleasure

Inventiveness, originality

Humanity Warmth, kindness, benevolence

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Talking Points

“Kikkerland Design makes home, office, and gift items that are both functional and delightful – things like stationery and kitchen items – that are ingenious and intelligent.”

What one sentence can you say that will both describe and distinguish Kikkerland Design? If each of us consistently said the same thing, whether to friends/family, new acquaintances, or business contacts, we will be helping to build awareness of our brand.

Consider memorizing the following sentence: “Kikkerland Design makes home, office, and gift items that are both functional and delightful – things like stationery and kitchen items* – that are ingenious and intelligent.”

If you have time to say more, these are the next most important things to say: “We introduce over 150 new products a year, so people can always discover something new and witty from us in stores or online.”

“Our products are sold in museum stores, gift shops, Target, and Bed Bath and Beyond.”

“We travel the world in search of original designs for little things that can make life more enjoyable.” *or substitute any other two products or product categories, depending on what would be most interesting to whomever you are speaking with.

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Our Products

For Kikkerland Design, our products are the most visible representation of our brand. Behind the fun of our products is a discipline to ensure our products appropriately represent Kikkerland Design.

We engage a 4-part assessment system to assist with product selection. Each product in consideration is assessed on a scale from 0-5, for each of four criteria, with 5 being the highest and 3 being neutral. A Kikkerland Design product must score neutral or above for each category. Add the criteria scores to help prioritize products.

Selection Criteria: 1. Engaging Is it clever or thought-provoking in its content or appearance?

Will it provide its user a moment of delight or satisfaction with each use? Will users feel compelled to show it to other people?

2. Utility What is the function of the product? Is it useful or entertaining?

Will it be used frequently?

3. Originality Is there anything else like this on the market? Is it distinctly unique from products with similar use and pricing?

4. Pricing Can the product be made with reasonable quality and sold at a sensible price relative to market expectations for similar products?

Though you may not be directly involved in product selection, we depend on ideas and feedback from everyone. Keep this assessment system in mind whenever interacting with products or considering new concepts. If something doesn’t seem to fit, or can be changed to fit better, it should be brought to management attention.

Important Products that might prove excellent for sale, but don’t meet the Selection Criteria should not bear the Kikkerland Design brand name. Likewise, Kikkerland Design branded products should not be sold in venues that could reflect negatively on our brand. The last page of this booklet describes how to address these situations.

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Product Production Procedure For our business audiences, the Kikkerland Design brand speaks on two levels. First is its consumer appeal – if it is popular with consumers, they want to represent it. Second, they are deeply influenced by their experiences with the operational side of our company. With sellable product being their focal point, our promises and performance related to new product development must be flawless.

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Below is our standardized procedure for product development. #5 is the critical reference point that determines whether products may enter the sales cycle or must be postponed to the following season.

6. Sell Sheet Finalization Sales/marketing finalizes sell sheets for upcoming season products.

1. Product Selection Executive team selects products aimed for the next season, using a 4-part assessment system to ensure it is “on-brand.”

2. P.O. and Sell Sheet Initiation Purchase order must be placed for manufacturing commitment, and sell sheet should be started.

3. Packaging Determination & Product Naming Executive team decides on packaging format and consumer product name.

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Packaging Design & Copy Development Creative department validates product name, designs and writes package, and relays packaging production information to manufacturer.

Announcement/Release Date Commitment Sellable product ETA and pricing is finalized. Executive team commits to selling season and sales/press announcement timing.

ew products may only be revealed in accordance N with step #5.

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Final Production Sample Approval Executive approval of sample. Final order and timely ETA confirmed with manufacturing and confirmed sales authorization relayed to Sales/Marketing .

8. Sellable Product in Warehouse, Ready to Ship

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Product Categories

In online or print catalogs, Kikkerland Design products should be organized in categories described as human activities. Some products may appear in more than one category, but creating additional categories should be avoided.

Living Home and Bath dĂŠcor items, Clocks, Frames, Step Stools Cooking Kitchen items Entertaining Bar items Beautifying Spa and Grooming items Working Stationery and Office items Playing Cards, Games, Puzzles, Music Boxes, Critters, Paper Animation Traveling Travel accessories, Keychains, Umbrellas, Flashlights, Mini toolsets, Wallets

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Product Naming

Subheads

Product names should be consumer-focused and therefore distinguished from SKU names that might appear in the wholesale catalog.

In some cases, a subhead might be added to describe more complex product content:

Characterize the items in 2-4 words whenever possible.

Remember, a consumer seeing the name will also be looking at the package, picture, or product, so the words alone don’t need to convey everything. Tone should be descriptive, straightforward, and consistent with spoken English.

Do: Assorted Lenticular Postcard Don’t: Lenticular Postcards Assorted Do: Qi Gong Stone Set Don’t: Qi Gong Cobble Stone Set of 3 Do: Magnetic Paper Clip Devil Don’t: Magnetic Paper Clip Holder Devil

Do: Cheese Serving Set

4 pc knife set with wooden cutting board Don’t: 4 Pc. Stainless Cheese Knife Set w/Wood Cutting Board Subheads may also be used to describe related items sold separately. Depending on length, it could be treated with a separator, like a comma or dash, or as a separate line as shown above.

Do: Hook Man, Stretch Hook Man, Feet Up Hook Man, Arms Out Don’t: Hook Man Stretch Hook Man Feet Up Hook Man Arms Out

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Non-Kikkerland Branded Products Kikkerland Design may for operational reasons choose to manufacture and sell products that do not meet the Kikkerland Design brand attributes/criteria. Such products are sold under a generic or non-Kikkerland brand.

Similarly, products bearing the Kikkerland brand should only be sold in venues that appropriately reflect the Kikkerland brand spirit. In venues that might be degrading to the Kikkerland Design brand, products are sold under a generic or nonKikkerland brand.

Special attention should be given to all Kikkerlandbranded products and sales venues to ensure they meet the Kikkerland Design brand standards. If something does not seem to fit, it should be brought to the Brand Manager’s or management attention.

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Discovery

Intelligence Utility Wit Joy Ingenuity Humanity

2008 Š Kikkerland Design, Inc.

This booklet was written by Strategic Sense and designed by Red Square Design